Serious neck injuries can have devastating impact on a patient and once a victim is injured and requires help, it is important for first responders to avoid compounding the initial injury through uncontrolled movement of the head and neck. For this purpose, a responder often applies a cervical collar to a neck injury victim. Since neck injuries are not always visually apparent, a cervical collar may be applied to a victim who is unconscious but who is suspected of having a neck injury or who was injured under circumstances in which such an injury is possible, such as an automobile accident or a fall.
A variety of cervical collars are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,564 to Grundei et al., dated Apr. 9, 1991, discloses a cervical collar made of a foam material and with overlapping ends that join together my means of a hook-and-loop fastener. The collar is perforated at openings 3 to receive one or more support members 5. Without at least one support member, the collar offers only slight support and is used near the end of a patient's treatment, primarily to provide heating; to provide strong support, one or more support elements must be inserted in the openings (col. 1, lines 48-58).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,527 to Hartunian, dated May 9, 2000, discloses a sports neck brace made of a length of foam material in a split ring configuration having two ends which defined a vertical opening 20 which appears to permit placement around a player's neck, and having hook and pile fasteners 21, 25 and 27 to secure the two ends together in use (see, e.g., col. 3, line 57-col. 4, line 7). Thus this brace is not adapted to accommodate different sizes of necks.